A BOURNEMOUTH councillor was left wondering whom he had offended when a bomb-like device landed in his garden, missing his house by metres.

David Clutterbuck, who lives in Jessop Close, Redhill, was woken by his next door neighbour banging on his front door at around 2am on Friday (September 10).

He said: "Our neighbour said she saw a flash which looked like lightning over our house and that is when we noticed our hedge was on fire. Luckily my son, who is a builder, lives next door and so I took some sand from his house to dampen the flames."

The fire was extinguished before fire crews arrived and a small metallic device in the shape of a bomb was taken away by police.

Mr Clutterbuck added: "I found this metal thing about eight inches long, which was white hot. It was made of three big pieces of aluminium, which had fused together, with a tube.

It looked like a small missile but I don't know where it could have come from.

"It either must have been fired by someone from Redhill Common or it was dropped from an aeroplane."

Police say they recovered three metal objects, which are thought to be part of an incendiary device and possibly a home-made bomb.

Inspector Neil MacBean of Bournemouth Police said the device had been sent away for forensic testing.

He added: "No damage was caused to the property and there were no other objects capable of causing an explosion found in the area."

First published: September 13